complaint

R(Friends of the Earth Ltd, Mr Kevin Jordan and Mr Doug Paulley) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (challenge to the Third National Adaptation Programme) - complaint

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R(Friends of the Earth Ltd, Mr Kevin Jordan and Mr Doug Paulley) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (challenge to the Third National Adaptation Programme) - judgment

R(Friends of the Earth Ltd, Mr Kevin Jordan and Mr Doug Paulley) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (challenge to the Third National Adaptation Programme) - Other

application

R(Friends of the Earth Ltd, Mr Kevin Jordan and Mr Doug Paulley) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (challenge to the Third National Adaptation Programme) - application

Filing Year For Action

A disability rights activist, a campaigner trying to save his home and Friends of the Earth, have together brought a public law challenge to the UK’s ‘National Adaptation Programme 3’ (or ‘NAP3’). The claim focuses on legal compliance with section 58 of the Climate Change Act 2008, as well as breaches of human rights.

One co-claimant is a care home resident particularly vulnerable to overheating during seasonal heatwaves, the other is at imminent risk of losing his home and possessions to rising sea levels and coastal erosion. Between them they allege that NAP3 is so deficient that it breaches their human rights to: life (Article 2), home (Article 8), possessions (A1P1), and that they are discriminated against on account of their vulnerable situations (Article 14).

The case was filed on October 17,  2023, and is believed to be the first of its kind in the UK. 

The grounds are as follows.

Ground 1 – misdirection in law as to the correct approach to setting ‘objectives’ under s58(1)(a). Rather than setting lawful specific objectives the Secretary of State has included vague ‘risk reduction goals’. The claimants consider this is inconsistent with the statutory language in s58, the overall statutory scheme, and its fundamental purpose.

Ground 2 – unlawful failure to consider and/or publish information on the risk(s) to delivery of the plans and proposals in NAP3. There is no evidence this assessment was done.

Ground 3 – unlawful failure to discharge the ‘public sector equality duty’, in not lawfully considering the unequal impacts of NAP3 on protected groups in society (such as age, race or disability).

Ground 4 – breach of section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 due to unlawful interferences with the individual co-claimants’ rights under articles 2, 8, 14 and article 1 of protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This is partly due to the failures in ground 1, but also separately due to the content and deficiencies in NAP3 itself.

In relation to Ground 4 the following issues are relevant to the co-claimants’ circumstances:
 
-	The well-established but urgent need for long-term policy and protected funding to enable care-homes (and similar healthcare settings) to adapt to excessive heat. It is said this remains absent in NAP3 despite the increasing frequency and severity of annual heatwaves.
-	There being no new policy to manage overheating risks in existing health and social care buildings, such that they are properly refurbished as soon as reasonably practicable.
-	A lack of a commitment to provide adequate resources to support communities at imminent risk of being lost to erosion and flooding, including as to the established mental health and emotional wellbeing impacts for those affected.
-	Gaps, inconsistency and uncertainty in the potential allocation of funding provided for a range of areas, in particular for those communities that must (or are likely to have to) relocate and have their homes demolished.
-	There being no insurance or compensation schemes available for the worst affected by coastal erosion and who lose their homes.
-	No evidence of their being an express consideration, or reasoned analysis, of what a fair balance to strike would be between doing more to safeguard the human rights of vulnerable people and the interests of wider society.

A two-day hearing occurred on 23-24 July 2024, in which the claimants challenged NAP3 on the four grounds. The court delivered its judgement on October 25, 2024, dismissing the claim as follows: 

Ground 1 - The court found that the Secretary of State did not misinterpret the requirement for “objectives” in s.58 of the Climate Change Act, determining that the duty imposed by it is not a single, precisely quantified, objective. 

Ground 2 - The court found that the Secretary of State had considered “delivery risk” at various stages and there was no evidence of unlawful failure. 

Ground 4 - The court ruled that the claimants’ human rights were not breached and that the government’s adaptation strategies were in alignment with statutory requirements. 

The court dismissed the application for judicial review on Ground 3 - The court ruled that although the initial approach of assessing the equalities implications of NAP3 did not lawfully comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty, the subsequent Equality Impact Assessment conducted solved the original error, considering quashing the belated assessment decision would serve no useful purpose. 

The claimants applied (on July 1, 2025) to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that the NAP3 breaches the claimants’ rights under Article 2 (right to life), Article 8 (respect for private and family life), Article 1, Protocol One (protection of property) and Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination).

R(Friends of the Earth Ltd, Mr Kevin Jordan and Mr Doug Paulley) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (challenge to the Third National Adaptation Programme)

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

A target to reduce the prevalence of a greenhouse gas over a specific time frame

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

Conditions that enhance the feasibility of adaptation options. Enabling conditions include finance, technological innovation, strengthening policy instruments, institutional capacity, multi-level governance and changes in human behaviour and lifestyles.

A commitment to balance GHG emissions with removal by a certain point in time, effectively reducing the net emissions to zero

People whose health, both mental and physical, makes them more vulnerable to the effects of climate change

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

The processes through which enterprises can identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their actual and potential adverse impacts. Due diligence is the idea that reasonable precautions should be taken to avoid causing harm to people, the environment, or society. It also involves identifying and mitigating risks before they occur.

Actions to adapt and increase the resilience of rural and urban infrastructure and settlements to climate change.

Activities that involve the cultivation of crops and raising of livestock for food, fibre, and other products essential for human life and industry.

Financial actors and resources that are primarily directed towards climate change mitigation, adaptation and compensation.

Activities of businesses and institutions that provide financial services and products to individuals and organisations.

Financial support to help individuals manage the effects of unexpected events, securing their livelihoods and increasing the resilience of people and businesses to the changing climate. It’s especially vital in developing regions where everyday risks, climate-related weather extremes, or crop failures can push people into poverty. Without insurance, people may have to resort to selling assets or cutting consumption to cope with losses.

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Direct investments by the governments using public funds. This can be to support climate initiatives or integrate climate into other projects.

Actions and measures to adapt and increase resilience of societies and the economy to climate change.

People who are less able to respond to the effects of climate change due to having limited financial or physical assets

People who have left their homes, whether through force, voluntarily, or a mixture of both

Coastal zone and marine-related actions and measures to adapt and increase resilience to climate change

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

Geohazards are adverse geological phenomenon's that are capable of causing widespread damage or loss to property, life and the environment, such as earthquakes, volcano eruptions and tsunamis. Climate change can increase the frequency and severity of some geohazards, such as landslides, and soil erosion.